"Balinese lasses" is not the kind of phrase you are likely to see ... ever. Unless there are Balinese in Ireland.

"Bali laughs" is so terrible I literally laughed.

Page 123~

As in a trance, Cable sucked in his breath audibly. The girl smiled, and at that moment Cable heard a hissing noise. He turned around, frightened. But it was only bloody Mary. She had her peach-basket hat in her left hand. Stains of betel juice were drenching the ravines of her mouth, which was grinning, broadly. Her broken teeth showed through, black, black as night. She winked her right eye heavily and asked, "You like?" Then she turned and fled down the path.

Ah, natives. So droll. So quaint. So exotic. Just a moment of local color before our hero has sex with an underage prostitute ... who is a virgin ... who will cry immediately after. You know, the way men do. "The regrets and moral questionings would come later."

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Must say that part of the story always freaked me out. Generally I like the book (much more than the musical) but there is no denying that teenage girl was basically sold to him by her grandmother, and he didn't have any problem with it at all. Ah, South Seas romance...

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